Government Shutdown Day 14: US-China Trade Tensions Rise; Big Banks Report; Gold, Silver ATHs, Bounce; Crude Oil Dumped; Bitcoin Smoked

Late night Monday, spot silver hit an all-time high of $53.62. As Monday turned into Tuesday, prices fell to as low as $50.90 in extremely thin trading. At the same time, gold traded at its own all-time high $4,179.60, subsequently beaten down to as low as $4,090.15. The main difference in the two metals' trading was the massive volume in gold, which indicates that it took far more effort to bring down the price of gold by nearly $100 than it did to send silver down some $2.50.

Whenever prices rise as quickly as those of gold and silver have over the past few days and weeks, there's likely to be more than the usual share of speculation responsible for both the rapid advance and quick reversals that are taking place. While precious metals were being whipsawed overnight, the US$ was also gaining, contributing to the feverish trading in gold. Because of the overlayering of global politics, particularly US-China trade tensions, this level of volatility in all markets is likely to be persistent.

Stocks reversed on Monday after Friday's enormous selloff. Both the downdraft Friday and recovery Monday were predicated on tweets or "Truths" from President Trump on social media and little else. Turning to Tuesday's markets, gold has recovered from overnight lows, but silver has not. testing down closer to $50. Traders in London are frantically attempting to bring silver's price back down below $50 in order to assuage fears that London's vaults are nearly empty, which has been the unfolding story for months. The level of skullduggery, lies, and half-truths about silver supply could fill an almanac.

Silver remains the stake striking at the heart of the global economy, its suppression essential to maintaining world economic order and dominion of central banks. According to those in power, silver's real value cannot be exposed to the general public. Since Friday, the public has gotten a glimpse, obviously liked what it saw. With London and New York aghast at this development, every effort was made to plug the leaks in the narrative and assure markets that all was well and that the recent spike was nothing more than an ill-intended short squeeze. That's at least a partial truth and there's probably going to be an even ore concerted effort at squelching silver prices as the drama unfolds.

As the completely bogus government shutdown enters Day 14 it's hardly even news anymore. The Senate continues to pretend they're trying to reach a compromise while failing to vote on a standalone bill to pay both civilian and uniformed military personnel whose next paycheck is supposedly due on Wednesday, October 15 (tomorrow). President Trump, fresh off his victory lap for "ending" the Hamas-Israel war, has instructed War Secretary Pete Hegseth to use "all available funds" to pay the tropps. There are some two million military personnel and about $8 billion sloshing around in the War Department, with another $21 trillion unaccounted for from the day before 9/11/2001, so there should be no problem cutting paychecks.

Adding to the fakery, the Senate passed a $925 billion defense spending bill just a few days ago.

Monday's snap-back gains were led by tech and financial stocks, with a slew of big banks reporting third quarter earnings Tuesday and Wednesday. Among those already reported Tuesday before the bell are Blackrock (BLK), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Citi (C), along with non-financials, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Domino's Pizza (CPZ), Albertsons (ACI), and Ericsson (ERIC).

Briefly, Goldman Sachs (GS) had record revenue, but is trading lower by about three percent. JP Morgan (JPM) is lower by about one percent, but Wells Fargo (WFC) is up four percent pre-market. Citi (C) also reported record revenue, though shares are flat. Blackrock (BLK) is down less than one percent.

Meanwhile, bitcoin is getting smoked, down more than $3,000 approaching its weekend low of $110,000. Stock futures are signalling another major selloff as US-China trade tensions took an ugly turn overnight with China sanctioning five US subsidiearies of a South Korean shipbuilding company and hiking docking fees for US vessels at Chinese ports.

Just before 9:00 am ET Dow futures were down 441, NASDAQ futures off 312, and S&P futures down 67 points.

WTI crude oil is down around $57.65, heading lower.

All this because silver hit $52 an ounce yesterday. How sad.

At the Close, Monday, October 13, 2025:
Dow: 46,067.58, +587.98 (+1.29%)
NASDAQ: 22,694.61, +490.18 (2.21%)
S&P 500: 6,654.72, +102.21 (+1.56%)
NYSE Composite: 21,381.79, +284.88 (+1.35%)